The Cambridge Companion to George Orwell

by John Rodden (Editor)

George Orwell is regarded as the greatest political writer in English of the twentieth century. The massive critical literature on Orwell has not only become extremely specialized, and therefore somewhat inaccessible to the nonscholar, but it has also attributed to and even created misconceptions about the man, the writer and his literary legacy. For these reasons, an overview of Orwell's writing and influence is an indispensable resource. Accordingly, this 2007 Companion serves as both an introduction to Orwell's work and furnishes numerous innovative interpretations and fresh critical perspectives on it. Throughout the Companion, which includes chapters dedicated to two of Orwell's major novels, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, Orwell's work is placed within the context of the political and social climate of the time. His response to the Depression, British imperialism, Stalinism, World War II, and the politics of the British Left are also examined.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Politics, History, Essays, Nonfiction

238 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jade Cooke]

Some "light" dissertation reading - Orwell is a great mind would definitely recommend if you are at all interested in his political stance or writing etc.

[Sam]

Some of these pieces were worth reading, others not. Christopher Hitchens has nothing especially interesting to say. John Rossi's introduction is usefull, if rather basic. Margery Sabin's piece on Orwell's nonfiction of the 1930s didn't teach me anything really, though I was glad to have read it. Orwell and the British left, by Ian Williams, was the best thing in the book. It oriented me to the internal politics, which gets rather confusing, at least for an American, and is pretty essential knowledge if you want to understand Orwell's idosyncratic brand of socialism, why he joined the ILP - he made a critical remarks of the party in Wigan Pier -, what he meant by 'Tory Anarchism', and how he related to the left-wing mileiu (he, Williams, also debunks the whole list controversy, a red herring that is used to write off Orwell and his arguements for Socialism). And so on. A decent introduction but not really worth the effort.

[loafingcactus]

I really enjoyed the first few chapters before I got distracted to some other books.